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  • Home
  • News
  • Groups
    • Calendar
    • Group Directory
    • 1st Monday Meetings
    • Groups A-B >
      • Antiques and Collectables
      • Archaeology
      • Architecture Appreciation
      • Art
      • Art - Still Life & Portraiture
      • Backgammon
      • Badminton
      • Beer & Cider Appreciation
      • Birdwatching
      • Bobbin Lace Making
      • Booktalk
      • Bridge
    • Groups C-C >
      • Calligraphy
      • Canasta and Bezique
      • Card Games for Fun
      • Chess >
        • All that Chess
      • Coffee Group
      • Computing
      • Country Walks >
        • Country Walks - Tuesday
        • Country Walks - Thursday
        • Country Walks - Friday
      • Craftastic
      • Creative Writing 1
      • Creative Writing 2
      • Crosswords
    • Groups D-G >
      • Dining Club
      • Early Music - Playing
      • Easy Riders
      • English Country Dancing
      • Family History
      • Folk Music
      • French Beginners
      • French Conversation
      • French for the Rusty
      • Gardening
      • Geology
      • German Language
      • go
    • Groups H-K >
      • History
      • History of Art >
        • History of Art Blog
      • Italian Language Studies
      • Jazz and Blues
      • Kings Cribbage
    • Groups L-O >
      • Landscape & Wildlife
      • Latin
      • Local History
      • Mah-Jong (Western)
      • Mah-Jong (BMJA Rules)
      • Maths and Physics
      • Meditation
      • Members On Their Own
      • Music Appreciation
    • Groups P-Q >
      • Petanque
      • Philosophy
      • Pickleball
      • Pins and Needles
      • Play Reading 1
      • Play Reading 2
      • Poetry Appreciation
      • Quiz
    • Groups R-S >
      • Reading Crime and Thrillers
      • Reading for Pleasure 1
      • Reading For Pleasure 3
      • Rummikub
      • Science
      • Scottish Country Dancing
      • Scrabble
      • Short Tennis
      • Singing for Pleasure
      • Skittles
      • Spanish Conversation
    • Groups T-Z >
      • Table Tennis
      • Theatre Visits
      • Topical Issues
      • Travel Tales
      • Trips and Outings
      • Weaving Group
      • Wildlife
      • Wine Appreciation
      • Worldviews
  • u3a+
    • u3a online
    • u3a neighbours
    • u3a Communities
  • How to
    • Join Dorchester u3a
    • Renew Membership
    • Join a Group
    • Find Meeting Places
    • Change your details
    • For Group Leaders >
      • Beacon Quick Reference
      • The Group Leader Role >
        • Overview
        • Running an Established Group
        • Taking over an existing GL role
        • Starting a new group
        • Refreshing an existing group
      • Group Leader checklists >
        • For every meeting
        • For every term
        • First use of venue
      • change this website
      • Borrow Equipment
      • Forms
      • Beacon Access
  • About Us
    • Contacts
    • Purpose and Principles
    • Organisation
    • Communications
    • Constitution
    • Policies >
      • Member Code of Conduct
      • Trustee Code of Conduct
      • Data Protection Policy
      • Privacy Policy
      • Safeguarding Policy
      • Complaints Procedure
      • Disciplinary Procedure
    • Annual General Meeting >
      • 2025 >
        • AGM Notice
      • 2024 >
        • AGM Notice
        • Minutes
      • 2023 >
        • AGM Notice
        • AGM Pre-reading
        • Minutes
      • 2022
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Just Useful
    • Noticeboard
    • SCAM help
    • Free online books, magazines and newspapers
    • Digital Help
    • Local Information
    • Learning Resources
Click on he following links to see examples of some writing by our members:
(Use your browser back button to return to this page)

THE RAMBLINGS OF A BEEKEEPER  by Chris Slade

Ain’t Life Strange                 by Mike Joslin


  Or try writing something yourself using the tips and tricks below
  Tips and tricks for beginners
  • Do some short exercises to stretch your writing muscles – if you’re short of ideas, read the Daily Writing Tips article on “Writing Bursts”. Many new creative writers find that doing the washing up or weeding the garden suddenly looks appealing, compared to the effort of sitting down and putting words onto the page. Force yourself to get through these early doubts, and it really will get easier. Try to get into the habit of writing every day, even if it’s just for ten minutes.
  • If you’re stuck for ideas, carry a notebook everywhere and write down your observations. You’ll get some great lines of dialogue by keeping your ears open on the bus or in cafes, and an unusual phrase may be prompted by something you see or smell.
  • Work out the time of day when you’re at your most creative. For many writers, this is first thing in the morning – before all the demands of the day jostle for attention. Others write well late at night, after the rest of the family have gone to bed. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
  • Don’t agonize over getting it right. All writers have to revise and edit their work – it’s rare that a story, scene or even a sentence comes out perfectly the first time. Once you’ve completed the initial draft, leave the piece for a few days – then come back to it fresh, with a red pen in hand. If you know there are problems with your story but can’t pinpoint them, ask a fellow writer to read through it and give feedback.
  • HAVE FUN! Sometimes, we writers can end up feeling that our writing is a chore, something that “must” be done, or something to procrastinate over for as long as possible. If your plot seems wildly far-fetched, your characters bore you to tears and you’re convinced that a five-year old with a crayon could write better prose … take a break. Start a completely new project, something which is purely for fun. Write a poem or a 60-word “mini saga”. Just completing a small finished piece can help if you’re bogged down in a longer story.


learn,
laugh,
​live

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